


Georgia On My Mind

by RiiasShorts



Series: Journey to the Center of My Heart [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alpha Ben Solo, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Camping, F/M, Hiking, Omega Rey (Star Wars), Part of a Twitter Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:40:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24212257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiiasShorts/pseuds/RiiasShorts
Summary: this is parts 60-63 of my twitter fic "journey to the center of my heart" and won't make sense if you don't read everything that comes before it, so it's linked at the top of the chapterCW: there's a sketchy guy in this chapter who freaks rey out, but he never does anything truly bad
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: Journey to the Center of My Heart [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1736482
Comments: 3
Kudos: 33





	Georgia On My Mind

Rey chats easily with their Uber driver, an elderly beta born and raised in North Georgia, the whole way to the trailhead. Ben listens in, catching that the man had previously taken many a hiker to the trail, but the dropoff location varied. To Rey, that detail seems to make sense, but Ben is confused. Catching his furrowed brows, she leans over towards him.

“There’s a 16 mile approach trail that some people hike and some don’t. When we finalized plans for you to join me, I changed my route to skip it,” she explains quietly. Ben nods, non-verbally telling her he understands.

Their Uber drops them off at a fairly inconspicuous parking lot down a long, winding mountain road. It’s a bit of a bumpy ride, but they make it there intact and with about ten hours of daylight left.

Rey calls a thank you over her shoulder as she and Ben approach the trailhead. Ben thought he was nervous before, but now, looking through the trees at the start of the two thousand-mile long trail, he’s more freaked out than he’s been in a while. It still hasn’t quite hit him that he’s about to start a hike that could potentially take him the better half of the year. Rey says it’s a five month hike, but when Ben looked into it, he found that that’s the shortest estimate for average-skilled hikers. Looking at Rey, he figures she could probably do it in maybe two or three, but, as a beginner, he’s sure he’ll slow them down to around seven months. Which would suck.

Before they start the hike, Rey pushes Ben into a hiding spot between a couple of the cars parked in the lot, then turns to pull her camera out of a smaller pocket of her backpack so she can film a bit for her video. He watches her babble excitedly for a moment, spinning around to show off the lot and the beginnings of the path. After a minute, she hits a button, tucks the camera away, and signals to him to join her as she makes her way onto the trail.

They’re quiet for the first part of the hike, which, for better or worse, gives him time to think. And, of course, it being him, he realizes something he should have asked her a while ago.

“Rey?” he starts, unsure how to breach the subject.

She looks at him, her eyes wide and excited. “Oi?”

Ben looks away nervously. “I, uh, don’t really know how to ask this...” he says.

“Just ask, I won’t be offended.” Her assurance is surprisingly helpful.

“Alright,” Ben relents, “when was your last heat?”

He looks at her as he asks, so he gets a front-row seat to her reaction. He’s obviously caught her off-guard, and she makes a choking sound before looking back up at him.  _ Way to go, Ben,  _ he thinks to himself,  _ you killed your guide.  _ Once she’s recovered, she answers.

“A month ago.”

_ So that’s why she’s insisted on five months. _

Nodding, Ben says, “Okay, cool.” He’s never been more glad to be an alpha, since his ruts are triggered and not scheduled. It’s inconvenient, sure, but he knows for a fact he won’t have a rut on the trail, while Rey is stuck having to squish the hike in between heats. And if she flubbs the timing, she’s at risk. 

“I’m thinking we can make five months. You’ve got long legs, and I have experience, so we’ll get through it. If we have to stop early, that’s okay. I can get myself through my heat and then get back on the trail. You can finish with me or head back to London, whichever you prefer.”

It takes a second for Ben to process everything she said. Once he’s wrapped his head around it all, he has a few questions. “Alone?” is his first. He knows it’s a personal question, but she’s so offhanded about getting through her heat without help that it catches him off-guard. 

Rey ducks her head. “Er, um, yeah, I would kind of, uh, have to…” she trails off. 

He has to admit, she did an incredible job of dodging his question. The implication was certainly that he was asking whether she  _ typically _ went without an alpha to help her through, but she was super smooth in avoiding any talk of her past heats. 

He’s not irritated about it, though; he knows it was a hell of a question to ask.

“It’s only fair if I ask you the same question about your ruts,” Rey snipes from beside him.

He blanches, thrown off by her sass. “Well  _ that’s _ only fair if you actually answer my question.”

Giggling, Rey responds, “Fine. Yes, alone. Your turn.” He can tell she’s not totally comfortable, so he goes with her prompt.

“It varies. Sometimes I’m alone, other times I’m not.” He’s blunt and honest, hoping their friendship will strengthen with this personal conversation.

Rey only hums, and in the silence, something clicks for Ben.  _ Wait, she said alone. Like,  _ alone _ alone. No-exception alone. Has she never…?  _ He forces himself to cut off his train of thought before it gets too explicit. He’s about to spend five months with this gorgeous omega, so he can’t have her under his skin this early on. 

_ Little late for that,  _ his alpha sneers.  _ Shut the fuck up,  _ he tells it.

They keep hiking, intermittently warning each other of tripping hazards or speaking their odd, stream-of-consciousness thoughts. Every so often, she urges him ahead of her so she can pull her camera out and film a vlog segment. Usually, he speeds ahead of her until he has enough distance between them that he can stop and watch her. It’s adorable to see her when she’s on-camera because the persona she puts on is her, but to a whole new degree. She’s bubbly and smiley, chattering happily as she walks her way towards him. It makes him smile, and his inner alpha purrs at the sight of his omega so happy and comfortable. 

_ Not your omega. _

It’s day one, and he’s already having a hard time keeping his alpha in line. This is going to be a long hike.

She tucks her camera away after a longer segment and is immediately babbling to him about the trail.

“On average, hikers move at around 3 miles an hour, and if we were to hike at that speed for 8 hours nonstop everyday, we could be done with the trail in just over three months. Obviously, though, that isn’t going to happen, so if we instead plan for spending exactly five months on the trail, we only have to cover about 14 miles a day, instead of the 24 you would have to cover to do it in three. That way, we have more wiggle room in terms of speed, how many hours a day we’re hiking, and the distance covered, because incline will probably slow us down a lot of the time,” she says, then keeps talking as she explains more about how the steepness of the terrain changes along the trail. Finally, she circles back to their current progress. “So, basically, tonight we’re staying in this little cabin up here called the Gooch Mountain Shelter. It’s not too far from where we are now, and since this area isn’t too hilly, it’s an achievable distance for us today.”

Ben chuckles to himself, having hit his limit of information he’s able to absorb during the second sentence of her whole spiel. “Hey Rey?” he interrupts.

“Yeah?” she looks up at him.

He stops, turning to put his hands on her shoulders. “Calm and slow down. That was so much information,” he tells her soothingly.

For a second, her eyes widen and her scent spikes in anxiety, but she seems to catch onto the innocuous nature of his words and the sour scent of nerves fades. 

“Okay,” she says, letting out a shaky breath.

_ Scent her. Calm your omega. _

His alpha seemingly doesn’t have a grasp on what’s considered appropriate. Scenting her would be totally wrong. She trusts him, and any kind of more-than-friendly contact would cross a serious line.

That being said, he’s not entirely sure what the  _ right _ thing to do is in this situation. She’s obviously at least a little distressed, and just sitting here and doing nothing goes against his very nature.

So obviously, it being him, he pulls the most awkward move ever: he keeps his hands on her shoulders and rubs his thumbs across her clavicle. 

However, it seems to work. Her scent loses its anxious, bitter edge and eases back into its honeysuckle, peachy, autumnal loveliness.

She fixes him with a glowing smile, and they’re back on the move.

Only an hour or two later, they approach a little wooden shack. It’s on the fringe of a clearing that has a firepit in the center, the charred remains of the previous campers’ fire blackened and long-extinguished. They’re there pretty early to be settling in for the night, so there’s only one hiker there. It’s a middle-aged, male alpha who smells like cigarette butts and rotting wood, and he’s sitting on a bench near the campfire. Immediately, Ben gets a weird feeling about him. 

Rey seems to feel the same way. She, subconsciously, as far as he can tell, tucks herself into his side, her eyes fixed on their company. Wanting to reassure her, he puts a hand on her back, underneath her pack, in a spot that’s high enough to be platonic, but low enough not to be awkward. They keep their distance, and judging by the glares they’re getting from the guy, he doesn’t want them any closer.

They set their packs down in the shelter, but before Ben manages to duck outside, Rey pulls him aside. Before she talks, she glances at the open wall and the man, who’s still sitting at the fire. 

“I don’t like him,” she whispers.

Ben nods. “Yeah, I’m getting a weird vibe.”

Before she gets to her point, Rey closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. When she looks back up at him, her gaze is uncertain. “Can you pretend to be my alpha?” she asks, her voice shaky.

Part of him stays onboard, but the other part of him short-circuits. All his hindbrain hears is her sweet little voice pleading with him to be  _ her alpha _ . Thankfully, enough of his mind is functioning for him to answer. 

“Yeah, of course,” he says gently. The truth is that he’d do anything for this girl. He’d be her alpha  _ for real _ and without hesitation if she asked. 

She almost scampers off, but he has a few questions before they’ve got an audience, so he puts a hand around her arm.

“Wait, Rey,” he mutters. “What are you okay with me doing?”

She takes a minute to think, rightfully so. “Er, anything that would be okay in public, I guess?”

“So a yes to kissing and touching, and a no to scenting or anything sexy?” He wants them to be completely on the same page before they go out. 

Her immediate nodding is encouraging. “Yeah, exactly.” They both nod, and Ben takes her hand as they walk back out towards the man. Ben feels safe enough, he knows he could take this beer-bellied alpha in any kind of physical confrontation, and he’s glad that his presence makes Rey feel more secure. 

Instead of staying near the camp, he and Rey wander into the woods. They stay close enough that they can see the silhouette of the little cabin so they won’t get lost, but they’re off the trail and meandering around the oaks and pines of the North Georgia woods. 

When the sun is setting, they make their way back. The alpha has moved into the cabin, and he’s laid out his sleeping bag in an awkwardly central position. Ben points her towards the fire and says he’ll pull out a couple of protein bars for dinner. He can feel her watching him as he rifles through his bag where it’s nestled in the closest corner of the shelter. They share a fairly quiet meal, both feeling too on-edge and surveilled to really chat. 

On their way back to the shack, Rey whispers to him that she doesn’t feel too comfortable with changing or separating and asks if he’s okay with going to bed in their clothes. He’s quick to agree, and they pull out their sleeping bags. After making the last preparations, they snuggle in for the night. Ben very purposefully positions himself between Rey and the alpha, sandwiching her between the wall and his own sleeping bag. They both drift off to sleep, their bodies close and snuggled together.

The next morning, Ben wakes up slowly. The warm light of the Georgia sun filters into the cabin, and as his brain wakes up, he realizes that, in their sleep, he and Rey moved into a spooning position. He’s the big spoon, his body crammed into the lightweight, technically-too-slim-for-his-frame sleeping bag and curled around her tiny little form. He’s just glad he didn’t wake up with a boner. 

Indulging himself, he curls back towards her and inhales her scent. He can’t tell if he’s excited for or dreading sleeping in her tent, in a space soaked in the smell of omega. 

At some point he dozes back off because he’s awakened by Rey shaking him lightly. She whispers a good morning and lets him know that the sketchy alpha had already left camp. They’re quick to get a bite to eat and prep for their day of hiking, and before the sun is fully up, they’re back on the trail.

**Author's Note:**

> back to twitter my lovelies!


End file.
